A lighting device 20 including a plurality of planar light sources 21 arranged in a planar direction. Each planar light source 21 has a light exit surface 43 on which a brightness distribution is biased. Bias directions of brightness distributions of the planar light sources 21 are the same. The planar light sources 21 are arranged with some of the planar light sources 21 and the other planar light sources 21 in alternate orientations such that the bias directions are different. High brightness areas and low brightness areas on the light exit surfaces 43 are arranged in lines. With this configuration, the high brightness areas are not in line and thus a bright band does not appear. Therefore, high display quality can be achieved.